Attorney: Late LSU WR Kyren Lacy didn't cause fatal accident

An attorney for the late Kyren Lacy, the former LSU wide receiver who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April after he was charged with negligent homicide and felony hit-and-run, said Friday that Lacy's car was nearly far behind the accident at the time of impact.

Speaking over a surveillance video that caught the Dec. 17, 2024, collision in Lafourche Parish, La., attorney Matt Ory told Homa, La., TV station HTV10 that Lacy's car was so far behind the collision, it was not visible in the video at the time of the accident.

"We know from data that Kyren Lacy did in fact pass four cars, there's no disputing that. Further north, Kyren Lacy passed four cars," Ory said. "However, he was back in his lane of travel, 92.3 yards -- back in his lane -- behind (the car occupying the man killed in the crash). ... He's 72.6 yards behind the vehicles at the time of impact. Key word, behind the vehicles. That is not how this story was ever painted. Never."

According to reports, police alleged Lacy crossed a center line in an attempt to pass slower vehicles, which a pickup truck driver to brake and swerve to avoid Lacy's car. Another vehicle then allegedly swerved to avoid the pickup and crossed the center line, crashing head-on with a vehicle containing Herman Hall, 78. Hall later died at a hospital.

The video depicts an SUV colliding head-on with another vehicle (part of the collision is obscured by a parked vehicle) with a vehicle behind the SUV coming to a stop. Nearly four seconds later, a car identified by Ory as the one driven by Lacy appears in the camera, slows down and appears to go around the accident.

Lacy was later charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run with death and reckless operation of a vehicle and surrendered to police in mid-January.

On the night of April 12, two days ahead of his scheduled grand-jury appearance, Lacy, 24, led authorities on a pursuit before crashing in Spring, Texas. When deputies removed Lacy from the car to take him into custody, they found him with the gunshot wound and he was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders, the Harris County Sheriff's Office said.

Lacy, a native of Thibodaux, La., caught 58 passes for 866 yards and shared the Southeastern Conference lead with nine touchdown receptions in 12 games in 2024.

He finished his collegiate career with 162 catches for 2,360 yards and 26 touchdowns in 64 games with Louisiana (2020-21) and LSU (2022-24). Largely viewed as an NFL prospect, Lacy's name was not on the list of players invited to the NFL Scouting Combine when it was released in mid-February, a month after Lacy's arrest.

--Field Level Media